Case Study
Transforming Vegetation Management Through Geospatial Intelligence
The Client
Hydro One operates Ontario’s largest electricity transmission network, serving millions of customers across a vast and geographically diverse service territory.
Maintaining network safety, reliability, and regulatory compliance requires effective management of vegetation risk across thousands of kilometres of transmission infrastructure.
Summary
Hydro One partnered with NM Group to modernise vegetation management through the adoption of advanced geospatial technologies, automated analytics, and data-driven workflows.
By combining airborne LiDAR, rapid data processing, and engineering-led analysis, the programme enabled earlier identification of vegetation risks and improved prioritisation of maintenance activities across the network.
Beyond vegetation management, the high-quality geospatial data was reused to support compliance, engineering, and asset management applications, maximising the value of every survey campaign.
Testimonial
"This programme demonstrated how geospatial intelligence can support far more than vegetation management alone. By combining high-quality LiDAR data with advanced analytics, we gained greater visibility of network risk while creating opportunities to support compliance, engineering, and asset management activities across the business."
The Challenge
Managing vegetation risk across a large transmission network requires accurate information, timely decision-making, and efficient deployment of resources.
Traditional inspection approaches can be difficult to scale across large territories and may limit visibility of emerging risks between inspection cycles.
Hydro One wanted to modernise its approach to vegetation management by improving risk identification, increasing operational efficiency, and creating greater value from the data collected across its network.
The organisation also sought to understand how geospatial technologies could support a broader range of business functions beyond vegetation management alone.
The Solution
NM Group worked closely with Hydro One to develop a modern vegetation management workflow built around advanced geospatial data and automated analytics.
Using airborne LiDAR and high-resolution imagery, the programme delivered detailed network-wide visibility of vegetation conditions and potential encroachments.
Engineering and vegetation analytics were applied to rapidly identify and prioritise areas requiring intervention, enabling more targeted maintenance planning and risk mitigation.
The resulting datasets were also leveraged for compliance reporting, engineering analysis, and asset management applications, supporting a wider digital transformation strategy across the organisation.
The Results
Proactive Vegetation Risk Management
Earlier identification of vegetation threats enabled Hydro One to prioritise maintenance activities and address risks before they impacted network reliability.
Improved Operational Efficiency
High-quality geospatial intelligence helped focus field resources on the highest-priority locations, improving inspection and maintenance effectiveness.
Greater Value from Survey Data
LiDAR data collected for vegetation management was successfully reused across compliance, engineering, and asset management workflows, increasing return on investment.
Enhanced Network Visibility
Detailed digital representations of network infrastructure and surrounding vegetation provided a more complete understanding of asset condition and environmental risk.
Foundation for Long-Term Transformation
The programme demonstrated how geospatial intelligence can support a broader shift toward data-driven asset management and operational decision-making across utility organisations.
Accelerated Digital Transformation
The success of the programme helped establish geospatial intelligence as a strategic capability, supporting wider adoption of data-driven workflows across vegetation management, engineering, and asset management teams.